


Captain Stark

by relenafanel



Series: THE Steve Rogers PROBLEM [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Actor Steve Rogers, Banter, Captain America/Howard Stark (fictional couple), Crying, Fanboy Bucky Barnes, Fandom, M/M, Romantic Comedy, The Howling Commandos (television show), Timestamp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-08
Updated: 2015-06-08
Packaged: 2018-04-03 09:48:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4096402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/relenafanel/pseuds/relenafanel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You sound upset, so of course you should have called,” Bucky corrected him as he sat back on his bed, wondering exactly what that could mean.  Steve had gotten a little too invested in the idea that part of the key to making Bucky happy was for <em>The Howling Commandos</em> plot to go the way he wanted it to.  Bucky was realistic.  He knew the show wouldn’t go in any direction that would have the kind of impact that Bucky saw in fandom every day.  He also knew that it wouldn’t be Steve’s fault.  “I don’t care what happens on the show.”</p><p>Steve brings his work home with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Captain Stark

**Author's Note:**

> You should probably read _the Steve Rogers problem_ first. 
> 
> TW: blood and possible character death for fictional characters.

Bucky only cared enough about four people to set his phone to allow calls to ring through automatically after he went to bed.  They were the people he would roll out of bed for if they had an emergency.  The rest of the world could go fuck themselves for even thinking Bucky Barnes would be happy to hear from them at stupid o’clock, but those four?  Bucky would walk into a gunfight without tactical gear for them.  He’d run through fire.  He’d catch a grenade.  Etcetera.

 

So when his phone rang, it could only be one of the four: his parents, his sister, and his hot hot television star boyfriend.  Sam didn’t even make the cut, mostly because Bucky knew that Sam was not above calling him at three in the morning because he was on a flight across the country and had just watched the YouTube video Steve made (with commentary) of Bucky dancing to _Shake it Off_.  Bucky knew this was a possibility because Sam had done it – twice – before Bucky made the list in the first place.  As it was he was considering taking his sister off the list too.  If Becca butt dialed him from a club again, he was going to murder her.  He would wake up, put on pants, meet her at the club she was dancing in, and kill her with his embarrassing bed head and his Steve Rogers fanclub t-shirt.

 

Then there would only be three priority people on his phone.  The only one he’d have to worry about trolling him was Steve, and usually that led to phone sex. So.

 

“Mmm?” Bucky groaned into the phone, not having the energy to form words.  He squinted at the clock beside his bed before turning over with his phone pressed against his ear to get his eyes away from the offensive bright red of the clock display. 

 

“Buck?” Steve questioned, and he sounded amused, but beneath that there was an undercurrent of something else, something that had Bucky bolting awake, the FBI agent in him coming to life.  He had his feet planted on the rug and was reaching for the lamp beside his bed before the motions even registered.

 

“What’s wrong?” he asked, heart beating quickly with adrenaline as he stood, pulling on a pair of pants in order to be ready, without knowing yet whether the situation called for him to actively move.  He reached for a shirt before Steve answered, and his head was half-caught between the shirt and his phone as he tried balancing both.

 

“It’s nothing, I shouldn’t have…” Steve answered, and he sounded distracted and maybe a bit shaken up.  Bucky could just barely make out the sounds of people moving around him, and it didn’t help him feel any better about not being physically next to Steve.  “I just got the revised script for shooting this morning, and the only thing I could think of was you and what you’d think.  I really shouldn’t have called.”

 

He wanted to ask.  He did.  There were a lot of things Steve could play enigmatic about, but most of them were of the ‘guess what’s in my pants’ variety.  If Steve could tell him about the script, Steve would have just launched right into it.

 

“You sound upset, so of course you should have called,” Bucky corrected him as he sat back on his bed, wondering exactly what that could mean.  Steve had gotten a little too invested in the idea that part of the key to making Bucky happy was for _The Howling Commandos_ plot to go the way he wanted it to.  Bucky was realistic.  He knew the show wouldn’t go in any direction that would have the kind of impact that Bucky saw in fandom every day.  He also knew that it wouldn’t be Steve’s fault.  “I don’t care what happens on the show.”

 

“That’s not true, you do care.  You’re invested.  You cared about it first, before we met.  And this…” Steve paused, and Bucky could hear the sound of paper rustling in his grasp as Steve breathed in his ear, uncertain about what to say next.

 

Bucky couldn’t have Steve believing that. “It _is_ true when it comes to our relationship, Steve,” Bucky assured him, using his name for emphasis.  The calming tone he was using had worked in more dire and dangerous circumstances, but somehow this mattered more that he get it right, and that was a daunting prospect.  “You make me happy. Happier.  Happiest. _You_ do.  You know that, right?  What happens on the show is like… well, it would be like your favorite baseball team winning the World Series.  It’s great, you’re excited, but it doesn’t really matter in the context of us.”

 

Steve took a deep breath over the phone.  “Buck,” he said, and his voice cracked on the word.  “This is… I read it, and I immediately needed to talk to you.  I’m not allowed to tell you anything, but I want to so badly. I had to hear your voice.”

 

Bucky winced, and tried not to think about what that could mean.  This conversation wasn’t about _The Howling Commandos_ , and Bucky wouldn’t allow his curiosity to taint the message he was trying to impart on his boyfriend. “I love you,” he said, and he always felt like the words gave him some kind of power over his life.  “You know that.  You know I’m not going to break up with you over the script.  Now go learn your new lines and be amazing.”

 

Steve was silent for the span of a few seconds.  Bucky could practically hear him thinking.  “I’ll stop by later if I can.”

 

“Ok,” Bucky answered with a laugh.  “Hopefully at a decent hour.”

 

“Yeah.” Steve’s response was sheepish.  “I’ll keep to your boring-person hours.”

 

“Fuck off,” Bucky muttered.

 

“Will do,” Steve told him, sounding far too chipper for someone who had to wake up before five in the morning to have makeup applied to his face to give the illusion of someone who got a full eight hours of sleep.  “Later.”

 

x.x.x.

 

Steve was being incredibly cagey, his arms and torso curled around something in his jacket.  His body language was throwing up a ton of red flags that would have Bucky preparing to respond with due force if Steve wasn’t his boyfriend, and also the person the least likely to be carrying something harmful on his person, like a bomb or a weaponized chemical compound.  “Come in,” Bucky said instead of demanding to know what Steve was hiding in his jacket as a safety measure, holding open his apartment door and watching Steve shuffle inside with a curious bemusement.  His body language screamed that he was up to something, guilty of doing some wrong, and Bucky was starting to be amused by it. 

 

Steve would never be able to throw Bucky a surprise party, that was for damn sure.

 

“I have something for you,” Steve said in a low tone, turning towards Bucky once he reached the couch and slowly opened his jacket.  Steve appeared to be wearing clothes, so Bucky didn’t think he was being seduced. This was not a ‘guess what I have in my pants’ scenario. A CD jewel case emerged from beneath the jacket, and Steve handed it to him like it was illicit drugs, actually looking around suspiciously for eyes on them even though they were standing in Bucky’s living room.

 

“Thanks,” Bucky answered, sounding sardonic as he looked at the unmarked CD.  He raised his eyebrow at Steve, silently communicating his need for an explanation.

 

Steve was already grabbing Bucky’s laptop and dragging it to the couch.  “Do you remember meeting our sound editor Laleh?  She adores you.  Doesn’t seem to care either way about me, but she always remembers to ask how you’re doing.  She didn’t say anything directly, but I think she’s one of your fans.”  Steve grinned at him, like he was happy that there were people out there who appreciated Bucky’s worth and talent.  It felt weird to Bucky that there were individuals who were fans of his, just as much or more than they were fans of Steve Rogers.  He’d even had someone say to him after all the media died down after his 15 (prolonged) minutes of fame: ‘your boyfriend is right, he’s just an actor, but you… you’re amazing.’

 

It had been a bizarre experience.  Humbling and empowering all at once.  More than anything, people seemed to be inspired by his strength, and Bucky didn’t know how he felt about that.  He didn’t consider himself strong or a role model.  On bad days, he wondered if he was fooling himself by thinking his own form of escapism had any worth. 

 

And who the hell was Bucky, anyway?  He was just some guy.  A guy whose experiences weren’t any better or worse than everyone else’s.  A guy who didn’t view himself as a hero or an inspiration: Bucky just did what he had to, never more and never less.  He didn’t go out of his way to be someone that people should look up to.  He just did what he had to.

 

But Steve had been the first of what turned out to be a number of people who considered Bucky inspirational.

 

“Laleh? Yeah, I remember her,” Bucky answered, sitting next to Steve.  Laleh had thanked him for having the courage to be in an open queer relationship with someone famous.  Steve was wrong in thinking she didn’t care either way about him, because Bucky had the feeling that Steve did what so many people in his position failed to do, and Steve had done it willingly and openly.

 

And Bucky was considered the inspiration?

 

“You can’t tell anyone,” Steve warned.  “She could get in major trouble for making this for you.  We both could.  Marvel has eyes and ears everywhere.”  Steve looked around Bucky’s living room again.

 

And suddenly, Bucky knew what was on the CD.

 

Wow.

 

Ok.  He needed a moment to process.

 

Wow.

 

“Seriously?” he questioned, and it came out as more of a squeak than anything.  From what he knew about Steve’s schedule, Steve was filming scenes from the finale this week.  The same finale he couldn’t talk about.

 

“Seriously,” Steve affirmed, and pressed play.

 

Bucky held his breath as the video started with a few seconds of black nothingness, and he hoped more than anything that this wasn’t a video of Steve’s repeated failure to perform a stunt– in most circumstances Bucky would love to see something like that, but after being implicitly promised something else, it would be a letdown.

 

Specifically, he realized as the video started by showing Howard Stark, bloody and gasping for breath on the muddy terrain of a battlefield, this: the final scenes of the finale.

 

“Oh my God,” Bucky gasped, leaning forward in his seat as Howard reached a hand up towards the person holding him, and a bloody, dirty hand closed around his fingers.  Bucky knew before the camera spanned to reveal the person as Captain America.  He’d recognize Steve’s hands anywhere.  Could, even before he’d felt them on his skin.

 

Bucky watched with the intentness of someone being shown new material of their favorite thing right up to the point where Howard said: _to me there’s nothing more important than your face being the last one I see._   Then he gasped, a surprised, wounded chirp, leaning forward even more in his seat.

 

It wasn’t…

 

Could it be?

_“There’s nothing more important than you right now. **Nothing**.” Captain America answered._

 

Bucky’s hand shot out and grasped for Steve.  He tried to say something but all that emerged from his mouth was a high pitched sound.  He hardly noticed Steve pausing the video for a moment out of respect for Bucky being overwhelmed by his emotions.

 

Captain Stark.

 

“I know,” Steve answered.  “Just wait.”

 

Bucky knew enough about television to know that it wouldn’t get better than this for him or for Captain Stark.  The show would tease but it would never get outright gay, and there was a term for it: queerbaiting. At least fandom would know what to do with the moment.

 

“Watch. This isn’t what you need to see.” Steve answered, and pressed play from the beginning.

 

[ _The Howling Commandos_ , Episode 94.]

 

_“Please,” Howard coughed, blood burbling from his lips.  He mouthed the word again, tongue working to clear his mouth.  “Please.  Stay until I… stay until.”_

_“Of course,” Captain America promised.  “I’ll stay until help arrives.”_

_Howard tried to shake his head no.  “You know that’s not what I meant.”_

_“It’s what will happen.”  Captain America’s face was stubborn and set in unwavering certainty.  “I’m here.”_

_“Thank you. I know it’s selfish,” Howard continued.  “You’ve got a war to win.  There are more important things than to sit with a dying friend, but to me there’s nothing more important than your face being the last one I see.”_

_“There’s nothing more important than you right now,” the Captain promised, holding Howard’s hand tighter.  “ **Nothing**.”_

 

_“If only.” Howard laughed, a tight, bitter thing.  “I know that the way I feel about you is the way you feel about Peggy.  I see the way you look at her, like she’s the most important person in the world.  You’re **my** most important person in the world.”_

_“I love Peggy,” Captain America agreed.  “But have you ever seen the way I look at you?  You’re no less important than she is.  Please.  Just hold on for a bit longer.”_

_Howard’s hand reached out, closing around the front of Captain America’s jacket.  “Stop me,” he said as he leaned forward.  “Stop me if this isn’t what you meant.”_

_Captain America moved forward into the kiss, tilting his body downward so Howard didn’t strain himself by reaching up. The kiss lasted for a heartbeat.  Then two.  Bloody fingerprints smeared across the lapel of Cap’s jacket._

[End Episode]

 

Bucky was crying.  He was outright sobbing, and though part of him was self-aware enough to know why, he wasn’t sure he could ever explain it to Steve.  His boyfriend was being wonderful about it, rubbing his back in comforting circles as Bucky gasped for breath and hid his face against Steve’s shoulder as the video finished, a beautiful shot of Howard’s fingers falling away from Steve.

 

It was all…

 

Very dramatic.  If either one of the characters was a woman, it would come off as a cheesy and over the top deathbed confession.  Between Howard and Captain America?  It was far, far more than Bucky ever expected.

 

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Bucky said, and his words were muffled by Steve’s shirt.  There were tears running down his face, he couldn’t control them. The clip was _everything_. It was profound.  It was… unprecedented, even. “Oh fuck. _Steve_ ,” he appealed, tilting his face towards his boyfriend’s and trying to calm himself down.  “Steve,” he tried again and managed to breathe. “I’m crying in front of you and it’s terrible.”

 

Steve laughed, dragging Bucky sideways until he was half draped over his lap.  “I know,” he said, tangling their fingers together in a way that made Bucky hiccup and think of Howard and Cap.  “I know.  Should I have left you to watch this in private?”

 

“Probably,” Bucky sniffed, wiping at his nose.  “Captain Stark,” he said in an overwrought tone.  “It’s Captain Stark.  It’s canon.”

 

Steve hummed in agreement.  “Hopefully. There’s no guarantee that it won’t get cut by someone from the network.  I want you to prepare for that.  That’s why you had to see it now, fresh out of editing.”

 

Bucky nodded. That didn’t surprise him.  “They can’t take the knowledge of _this_ away from me.”

 

“Come here,” Steve said, dragging Bucky closer so that his head was tucked beneath Steve’s chin.  He made a ridiculous cooing sound at Bucky that he’d laugh at, later, when this entire thing would be embarrassing as fuck.  “I knew you had to see it first.  See that everyone is trying to give you the bisexual representation that you deserve.”

 

Bucky snorted.  Steve definitely spent too much time on his blog.  “Yeah, and then Howard dies.”

 

Steve’s expression became cagey, very similar to the one he wore when he arrived at the door.  “Maybe.  Maybe not,” he shrugged.  “I don’t have the script for the premiere of next season, I don’t think there is one yet.”

 

Yeah, Steve definitely shouldn’t have snuck him a copy of the finale.  It was about two months away from being aired on television, and Bucky could only guess at the events that brought them from the last episode he saw on TV to the clip Steve had just shown him.  “Thank you for this,” Bucky finally expressed once he calmed down enough to think rationally.   “I don’t know how you managed any of it.”

 

“I love you, you know,” Steve said, nose in Bucky’s hair.  “I’d give you everything you wanted, if you desired something that could be obtained by people other than yourself. I love that most of the things you want the most out of life are personal goals, most of them except this.  This is something you want that I could give you, so of course.  _Of course_ I found a way to give you Captain Stark.”

 

Christ.  That sounded like more than an episode clip.  Could there be anyone more perfect than Steve?

 

There was something about the way Steve knew him, despite the obvious frustration he felt some days when he couldn’t give Bucky the things Bucky was working towards and fix the world for him, that felt like more than just a video.  If the clip was the perfect gift for Bucky, if Captain Stark getting together on screen was what Bucky wanted, then the thing he needed most was the person who found a way to give it to him.  Bucky was self-sufficient, and would never be the person whose entire world gravitated around just one focal point.  But Steve? Steve was his. “I want a new computer, too,” Bucky said, defaulting back to humor as he leaned in to kiss Steve.  His throat felt raw from crying and his face was still tacky from tears, and there was enough vulnerability in the moment.  Bucky felt flayed open, and he wanted to ask how Steve did it, but he wasn’t sure he could listen to the story without getting weepy over it again.

 

He desperately needed a breather.  It was one of the ways he and Steve meshed so well, because Steve was almost always on the same page as Bucky was, and when either of them needed the conversation to remain serious, the other always respected that.

 

Steve pinched Bucky’s hip, smirking at him.  “You couldn’t just say you love me?”

 

“I do!” Bucky expressed.  “But we were on the subject of wants…”

 

“You had to ruin the moment.”

 

“I can give you a list,” Bucky answered, grinning.  “All the things I want.  Number One: Steve Rogers.”

 

“I can give you that.”  Steve smiled at him like Bucky said something romantic.

 

“You already gave me that,” Bucky reminded him.  “I’m sure someone out there would even consider under your kitchen bar as romantic.  Number Two: Captain America and Howard Stark boning.  You can work on that.”

 

“I’ll see what I can do,” Steve promised with a serious expression.  “Now let’s go back to Number One.”

 

“Number Three!” Bucky exclaimed, yelping as he moved away from Steve’s fingers tickling into his side.  “A trip to…” he cut off as Steve stood, hands fisting around the front of Bucky’s shirt to pull him forward.  Bucky had tried that move on Steve once and had accidentally ripped his shirt down the back.  It made him laugh every time Steve successfully did it to him, and Steve used it to his advantage every time.  Bucky was still laughing as Steve’s lips pressed against his and he did his best to stop smiling into the kiss.  Steve made it easier to do by stroking his hand down the front of Bucky’s shirt, working on the button of his jeans.

 

“A trip?” Steve prompted.  “Where?”

 

Well there was only one place Bucky really wanted to go now.  “Bedroom?”

 

“Cheaper than a computer,” Steve agreed.

 

“I’d like to point out,” Bucky said as he dragged Steve’s shirt up over his skin.  “That you just called me cheap.  I will remember this moment and bring it up at inopportune times.”

 

“I consider that fair,” Steve murmured against the skin of Bucky’s jaw.  “I already texted your sister about you crying.”

 

Bucky paused and pulled away, staring at Steve suspiciously with his eyebrows doing all the talking for him.  That was Steve’s remorseful voice, not his teasing flirtatious tone. 

 

Steve straightened and gave Bucky an innocent expression, grinning sheepishly like he’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.  “I thought it was adorable.”

 

“No,” Bucky answered with dawning horror as he reached into his pocket for his cell phone.  His pants were half undone and Bucky couldn’t even find it in himself to care what he was putting a pause on by checking his texts.  There was a string of new ones.  “NO.  STEVE!”

 

 **New text from Becks** :

_Nice crying face._

 

**New text from Becks:**

 

**New text from Becks:**

_Why r u evn perfct at tht? Asshole. I share ur genes and crying makes me look like a leaking tomato._

 

**New text from Becks:**

_Nvmd bf sent the goods. He’s my fav._

 

**New text from Becks:**

** **

 

**New text from Becks:**

_Someday someone is going to hack his iCloud and it’s just going to be a bunch of ridiculous edits of your face._

 

(that was a terrifying and untrue thought)

 

**New text from Becks:**

_WAIT IS HE SHOWING YOU THE FINALE? I HATE BOTH OF YOU. OH MY GOD YOU’RE CRYING AT THE FINALE._

 

**New text from Becks:**

_YOU’RE CRYING_

 

**New text from Becks:**

_YOU_

 

**New text from Becks:**

_Fandom is doomed._

 

Bucky looked up at Steve.  “Actually, that’s better than I thought.  I can hold this knowledge over her for months.”


End file.
